Sastrugi

Sastrugi, or zastrugi, are sharp irregular grooves or ridges formed on a snow surface by wind erosion, saltation of snow particles, and deposition, and found in polar and temperate snow regions. They differ from sand dunes in that the ridges are markedly parallel to the prevailing winds. Smaller irregularities of this type are known as ripples (small, ~10 mm high), or wind ridges.

Larger features are especially troublesome to skiers and snowboarders. Traveling on the irregular surface of sastrugi can be very tiring, and can risk breaking equipment—ripples and waves are often undercut, the surface is hard and unforgiving with constant minor topographic changes between ridge and trough.

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The words sastrugi/zastrugi are Russian-language plurals; the singular is sastruga or zastruga. The form sastruga is the German-language transliteration of the Russian word заструга (plural: заструги).[1]

Under the wind, free snow particles accumulate and drift similarly to barchandunes of sand, and the resulting drifting snow shapes are also popularly referred to as barchans. Inuit of Canada call them kalutoqaniq. When winds slacken, barchans/kalutoqaniq consolidate via sublimation and recrystallization. Subsequent winds erode kalutoqaniq into sculptured forms of zastrugi. Inuit call large sculpturings kaioqlaq and the small ripples tumarinyiq. Further erosion may turn kaioqlaq back into a drifting kalutoqaniq. An intermediate stage of erosion is mapsuk, an overhanging shape. At the windward end of a ridge, the base erodes faster than above, producing a recognizable shape of anvil tip pointing upwind.[2]

Zastrugi are more likely to form on first-year sea ice as opposed to multiyear ice. First-year ice is smoother than multiyear ice that allows the wind to pass uniformly over the surface without topographic obstructions. Except for the melt season, snow is dry and light allowing it to be easily blown and create zastrugi parallel to the wind direction. It has been shown that the location of zastrugi are fixed by March and may be linked to the formation of melt ponds. Melt ponds are more likely to form in the depressions between zastrugi on first year ice.[3]

Chapter 2 of James Rollins' novel Ice Hunt likens the sastrugi surrounding the terrain above the underwater ice station to lemon meringue; in contrast, on the trail connecting the underwater base and the aboveground Omega Drift station, traffic has worn the ice smooth.